Man pleads guilty to AFL player assault

A man has pleaded guilty in a Queensland court to assaulting Gold Coast AFL player Jack Martin.

A Queensland man punched Gold Coast Suns player Jack Martin after being called out by the footballer for repeating jokes he'd heard on TV, a court has heard.

Excell John Placid, 20, pleaded guilty in Southport Magistrates Court on Monday to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm over the June 4 incident.

The court heard Placid, who had drunk approximately 12 beers in the hours before the incident, had been loudly making jokes he'd heard from The Footy Show when he passed Martin on the street in Broadbeach about 3am.

Martin took offence and, according to Placid, challenged him and said I'll f***ing kill you if you said that to me" (sic).

Placid then punched the footballer in the chin, knocking him to the ground and causing bruising to the back of his head.

After running a short distance from the scene, Placid was arrested and expressed his remorse over the attack.

Magistrate Chris Callaghan sentenced Placid to serve 120 hours of community service and gave him a warning about the consequence of his actions.

"You one-punch dropped this fellow on the ground," Mr Callaghan said.

"It could have ended up disastrous for him and, in time, disastrous for you."

Outside court, Placid's lawyer Michael McMillan said his client was deeply remorseful for his actions and was actually "more of an NRL fan" than an AFL supporter.